Ask and Tell
by shinysylver
Summary: The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell changes everything for Steve and Danny. Spoilers through 1x13. Rating is for language because I seem to have decided that a Navy Seal and a Jersey Cop curse more than CBS lets on.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Hawaii Five-0 no matter how much I would like to.

**Spoilers:** Up through 1x13.

**Author's Note:** I started writing this immediately after the repeal but it took a while to get it down. This is my first foray into H50 fic so I hope that I was able to capture the characters. Every time I've read a fic in this fandom I have thought about Don't Ask Don't Tell and how that affects Steve's life so that was my inspiration. On a personal note it is about time this discriminatory law got struck down. The repeal is a step forward for civil rights.

**Ask and Tell**

Steve took a long drink of beer and dug his bare feet deeper into the warm sand. He had spent his Saturday morning pouring over the photographs Mary had taken and had returned home to news that Don't Ask Don't Tell had been repealed. He knew there had been a chance it would be repealed but a large part of him had figured it wouldn't happen until after he retired. Now that it had he was suddenly experiencing a personal crisis.

Well perhaps crisis was too strong a word. A personal crisis is what happened when his house had been shot up by his former friend during an assassination plot. Conflicted was perhaps a more appropriate word to describe his state of mind at the moment. All of the thoughts and feelings that he had pushed aside for years were suddenly bubbling up and he wasn't quite sure what he was going to do about it.

Steve had known since high school that he was attracted to both men and women but he had never acted on his attraction to men. He had been determined to join the Navy since he had been a five year old visiting Pearl Harbor and listening to stories about his grandfather's sacrifice and he had always known that being gay would make that harder. He had considered himself lucky that he liked women too and besides it wasn't like he ever really had time for a relationship anyway. Catherine was the closest he had come to a relationship since high school. And regularly hooking up during shore leave hardly counted. He had always been so focused on rising through the ranks that he had avoided anything serious.

If he was honest with himself, and he always was, there had been a man during Seal training he had felt more than mere attraction for, someone he might have been able to have a relationship with, but he would never have acted on it and risked both of their careers. After all, even if they hadn't been restrained by Don't Ask Don't Tell there were still all sorts of rules against fraternization in the same unit.

But now that he was in the reserves and not constrained by as many rules he was suddenly able to act on all of these desires that he had avoided for so long. Of course if it had been a simple matter of going out and picking up a guy for a little fun and experimentation he wouldn't be on his fifth beer before dinner, at least not alone on the beach. Unfortunately he found himself once again in the position of having feelings for the worst possible person.

Steve wasn't quite sure when Danny had gone from irritating to amusing. He had no idea when Danny's loud mouth had stopped making him angry and started making him laugh. But somewhere a long the line their bickering had turned to flirting, at least on his end. Everyone joked about it, hell even people who hardly knew them commented on their relationship, but for Steve it was suddenly not funny anymore. Now that all of his carefully constructed walls were being stripped way by the US government he was finding it harder to push his feelings into a corner and ignore them.

And he should ignore them. He really should. After all, Danny was his partner. Even though he wasn't a cop he knew that the relationship between partners meant everything and that romance was not acceptable. But there was a traitorous voice in his head whispering that the Governor would look the other way. After all he had gotten Chin put on the task force and surely a dirty record was much harder to overlook. This wasn't the military. This was i_his/i_ task force and he had carte blanche.

The real problem was that he had no idea how Danny would react. Danny had been married and had a kid. He certainly didn't make any secret of his appreciation of the fairer sex. Steve was pretty sure Danny wasn't flat out gay. But at the same time there had been a few moments when he thought he had seen something in Danny's eyes. When he had showed affection to Nick he had seen jealousy and he knew that Danny had felt betrayed when he hadn't backed him during the investigation into Meka's murder. Not just betrayed, personally hurt. Steve was good enough at reading people to know that Danny's feelings for him were deep and complicated. But at the same time Danny was fiery enough that there was a very good chance that even if Danny did like men he would get punched if he brought it up.

Steve rubbed his hand over his jaw, a ghost of a smile drifting over his lips, as he remembered those first few awkward days of their partnership. If Danny hadn't punched him he doubted they would still be partners today. As much as Steve liked control he knew that he needed an equal on this task force and Danny had proved himself that and so much more. There was probably something deeply wrong with him that he considered that punch a fond memory.

Steve shifted a bit uncomfortably. Judging from his physical reaction, it appeared as though he also found the memory of it to be a bit of a turn on. Trying to think of less appealing things than a pissed off Danny, Steve sighed and raised the beer to his lips only to realize it was empty. He tossed the empty bottle to the side with the others and grabbed a new one from his quickly dwindling supply. He wasn't sure if he was trying to get drunk to stop himself from doing something stupid or to make it easier but getting drunk seemed to be the thing to do.

Steve wasn't sure how much time had passed when a shadow fell across him in the setting sun. Squinting up he saw the man who had been plaguing his thoughts all afternoon.

"What the hell are you doing?" Danny barked, irritation evident. "You were supposed to be back at the office an hour ago to teach Kono how to use that new sniper rifle you insisted on buying."

"Shit." Steve muttered, as he tried to focus his eyes on his watch. Giving up he waved his beer at Danny. "I don't think I should use a gun right now."

"You don't _think_?" Danny exclaimed as he backed away from the beer sloshing haphazardly out of the bottle. "Of course you shouldn't play with guns when you're too drunk to even read your own watch."

"I don't play with guns." Steve said indignantly with only a slight slur.

"Bullshit." Danny said. He opened his mouth to continue with his normal insulting banter but after taking another look at Steve he decided to hold his tongue. Instead he sat down in other chair looked out at the waves. "This isn't like you."

"I'm celebrating." Steve said once again waving the beer bottle through the air.

"Celebrating?" Danny asked doubtfully looking at the pile of nearly a dozen empty beer bottles in the sand a short way off.

"Didn't you hear? Don't Ask Don't Tell got repealed." Steve said lifting his bottle in an imaginary toast.

"Well it's about time." Danny said looking at Steve with concern. "But that doesn't explain why you're executing an all out offensive on your liver."

"It changes everything." Steve said trying to focus on Danny.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "I didn't take you for a homophobe."

Steve started laughing uncontrollably. "Not even close, detective."

Both of Danny's eyebrows shot up. "Are you gay? No wait don't answer that. You don't have to tell me. It doesn't matter."

"But I _can_ answer it now." Steve said, alcohol silencing every instinct to hide. "You can ask and I can tell."

Danny didn't say anything. He wasn't sure how to handle this. He was an expert at running his mouth off as a coping mechanism but this was beyond even his immense ability to vocalize. This was Steve, his partner, in the midst of a breakdown about his sexuality. He was prepared for Steve, the insane Super Seal or the really fucking insane interrogator but not this.

"Aren't you going to ask?" Steve pressed.

"I already did." Danny said with a sigh.

Steve frowned. "No."

"Yes I did." Danny responded.

"No. The answer is no." Steve said with a grin. "And yes. Yes too."

"What the hell?" Danny could feel a Steve specific headache coming on. "You aren't making any sense. Not even the drunk kind."

"Both. I like both." Steve said feeling an immense weight lifted off his chest at the admission.

"Well good for you. Twice as many fish in the sea." Danny said. "Pass me a beer will ya?"

Steve passed Danny his last beer and watched as his partner opened it. He couldn't seem to look away as Danny raised the bottle and took a deep drink. Danny's lips were wrapped around the bottle in a way that made Steve's mouth water.

"I wish I was that bottle." Steve muttered, barely aware he was speaking at all.

Danny sputtered his beer spraying. "What?"

"Nothing," Steve said feeling suddenly much more sober. "I need to piss."

Danny stared in shock as Steve got up and stumbled awkwardly over the sand to some nearby bushes. He thought he had been speechless before but now he couldn't even _think _words. If he wasn't mistaken, and he didn't think he was, Steve just came on to him. Well maybe not "came on" but he expressed an interest. Danny dropped his head in to his hands and began rubbing his eyes tiredly. Just when he had thought he had this whole partner thing figured out Steve had to go and drop a bombshell like this.

Not that Danny cared if Steve were gay or bi or whatever. He really didn't but seeing Steve so unhinged concerned him. Steve was always in tight control. The man even insisted on driving Danny's car for heaven's sake. Missing training and getting drunk in the afternoon just wasn't Steve. And Danny wasn't even going to think about that comment about the bottle. He wasn't going to think about the intent way Steve stared at him. Or the hungry look in his eyes. And he certainly wasn't going to think about the way his stomach had flipped at the comment.

Unbidden, Danny's eyes dropped to the bottle in his hand. Shaking his head, he quickly downed the rest of the beer and tossed the bottle aside, out of sight out of mind. Steve was his partner and his friend, his closest friend on the island; he didn't need to do anything that would complicate that. And he needed to make sure Steve didn't either. After all, Steve was drunk. Danny didn't have an excuse.

Danny smacked his head. An excuse to do what? He was straight. What would he possibly do? He was going to get Steve inside and hydrated and then go home. That was all. He would pretend like tonight never happened and hopefully things would go back to normal tomorrow…or as normal as life with Steve ever was. Sometimes he really missed New Jersey.

Danny pushed the papers to the side of his desk in frustration. He normally didn't mind paperwork because it was the part of the job that didn't involve anyone shooting at him but today he just wanted to do _something_. It had been a week since the incident with Steve on the beach and despite his best efforts he wasn't able to stop thinking about it.

The morning after Danny had been concerned about how Steve would act but it was like nothing had happened. Steve was the same as always. He didn't even seem to be hung over at all. Frankly, it pissed Danny off. How dare Steve drop a bombshell like that and then pretend like nothing happened? Perfect Steve got to have a little break down and now Danny had to deal with the aftermath. Never mind that he had wanted to forget everything too. Since when had Steve ever done what Danny wanted anyway?

Danny didn't even have anything to distract him. They hadn't had a case to work on so they had been catching up on paperwork all week. Or more accurately, Danny, Chin, and Kono had been doing paperwork while Steve stared at the photographs from his father's toolbox. The whole time Danny was filling out case files he had been trying not to think about that day on the beach but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the picture of that damn bottle out his head and the more Steve pretended like nothing had happened the more pissed off Danny got. And on top of everything Steve was leaving all the fucking paperwork for him.

"The ex giving you trouble again?" Chin asked from the door causing Danny to jerk up in surprise.

"What?" Danny asked confused.

"You looked like you were about to kill that poor stapler." Chin said gesturing toward the desk. "Last time you looked that angry Rachel was threatening a custody battle."

"No." Danny said abruptly. "You need something?"

"Steve called. He said he was going to work at home today." Chin said.

Danny suppressed the urge to growl and gestured at the papers on his desk. "Does he think these are going to sign themselves? It's bad enough that I have to be the one that fills them all out."

Chin shrugged.

Danny stood up and began haphazardly scooping papers into folders. "Well he doesn't get off that easily. I'll be working at Steve's today too."

Chin raised an eyebrow but wisely chose not to comment.

By the time Danny had made the drive to Steve's house he was beyond angry. He crashed his way through the front door, barely taking the time to disable the security system, before making a beeline for Steve's office.

"Steve?" Danny yelled from the hallway before throwing the office door open. He might be angry but he wasn't stupid enough to burst in on a Navy Seal, especially this one, unannounced. He didn't have a death wish.

Steve was standing next to his desk, his shoulders tense and his hand near his gun. "What the hell Danny?"

"I brought the case files for you to sign off on, _boss_." Danny said throwing the folders at Steve. "Is there anything else you'd like me to do? Maybe your dry cleaning?"

"Something bothering you?" Steve asked mildly. He looked curiously at the papers strewn on the floor.

"Is something bothering me?" Danny exclaimed his hands gesturing wildly. "Why would you possibly think something's bothering _me_? It's not like I've been doing _your_ paperwork all week."

"So this is about paperwork?" Steve asked.

"Of course not!" Danny shouted. "How the hell can you act like nothing happened last weekend? It makes me sick!"

Steve's flinched and his expression hardened. "I'm sorry you feel that way. If you would like to work with Chin or Kono in the future I'll understand."

Danny gaped at Steve sure he was missing something. Sometimes, well a lot of the time, he spoke without thinking so he ran through his words in his head and immediately felt all of the anger drain out of him.

Danny sighed. "No."

"No?" Steve asked his guard still up.

"No." Danny confirmed. "And for the record you make me sick for a lot of reasons but none of them have to do with being bi."

"No?" Steve asked, relaxing slightly.

Danny took a step closer to Steve. "It makes me sick that you can drink a case of beer without a hang over. It makes me sick when you ride motorcycles up stairs or run straight into gunfire."

Danny paused to look at Steve. He knew could stop there and they would be okay. Things could go on like they always had. It would be the smart thing to do but if there was one thing he had learned from Steve it was that sometimes you just had to do the stupid, reckless, dangerous thing.

"And it really makes me sick that you can act like nothing happened when all I can think about is what you said about that damn bottle."

Steve's eyebrows shot up. "What are you saying?"

"I don't know." Danny sighed scrubbing his face tiredly.

"Danny?" Steve asked hesitantly. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What?" Danny asked afraid of anything that made Steve hesitate.

"Do you like men?" Steve asked quietly.

Danny's head jerked up. "Of course not."

"Right." Steve said crouching down to begin picking up papers.

Danny closed his eyes. He didn't like men. Not in general. But he wasn't stupid enough to think that it was that simple. He wouldn't have spent all week obsessing about Steve if things weren't more complicated. Steve was his partner, his best friend, and outside of Grace, he was the one person who Danny would always put ahead of himself. When Mary had been kidnapped he had hurt for Steve. When Steve did something stupid it made Danny sick with worry and perhaps most telling, he couldn't stand to share Steve's attention with anyone. Not Kono, not Catherine, not Nick.

So much of his life revolved around the bothersome man and he couldn't deny that somewhere along the line he had become attracted to Steve as well. Every time the man had taken his shirt off, which was way too often for a cop, Danny had made excuses to explain his body's reactions. He had convinced himself that he was merely reacting to Kono who was a very beautiful woman but now it was time to let go of the denial.

Danny wasn't ready for this but he knew he wouldn't have another chance. He might not _normally_ like men but he knew that his feelings for Steve had crossed that line. Part of him wished that he hadn't gone to check up on Steve last weekend so that he could continue to live in denial. He knew he was going to regret this but he didn't want things to go back to normal.

"Not usually at least." Danny said his eyes still closed.

Danny heard the papers drop and felt Steve move close to him. Close enough that he could feel Steve's warm breath on his face.

"Do you want this?" Steve whispered. "Because I won't hide this away in a closet. Not anymore."

Danny nodded, not trusting himself to speak. A moment later he felt Steve's lips touch his. The kiss was hesitant at first, Steve was giving him plenty of time to pull back, but the brief touch ignited a fire in the pit of his stomach and he wanted more. Danny wrapped his arms around Steve's waist pulling him closer. He began to bite at Steve's lips and Steve responded passionately.

After a moment Steve pulled back to look at a flushed Danny. "Remind me to write a thank you to the President."

Danny was confused. "What?"

"For getting rid of Don't Ask Don't Tell." Steve said leaning in for another kiss.


End file.
